Office-to-Residential Conversion Trend Spreads to Houston Suburbs

As it wraps up a US$100-million office-to-residential conversion at the 20-story 1801 Smith Street tower in downtown Houston, Tampa, Florida-based DeBartolo Development is looking beyond the city center for its latest project: converting a 20-story Energy Corridor building into 300 apartments, Realty News Report reports. Described by the source as the first major suburban office to “jump on today’s conversion movement,” the Westlake 3 tower was developed by Hines in the early 1980s and was originally home to BP and ConocoPhillips. It is located just south of Interstate 10 and has been vacant since 2019. As cities nationwide continue to face a housing shortage and an oversupply of office space, office-to-residential conversions are gaining traction. In the past, the City of Houston implemented a US$15,000-per-unit tax break for developers of new apartments, and is considering a similar program for office-to-residential conversions.